Blog Archives

Clifford. Biscuit. Harry. Milo. Daisy. The Poky Little Puppy. Everyone loves a good dog book, don’t they? I’ve been on a hunt for good readaloud storytime books in my new job as a children’s librarian, and the other week I found one that I immediately wanted to share with the Story Warren family. The story […]

It’s not often that I read an entire book in just one or two sittings, but that’s exactly what I did earlier this week with Jennifer Trafton’s eagerly-anticipated new novel, Henry and the Chalk Dragon. Friends of Story Warren might know Trafton from her earlier book, The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, or her […]

One of the things I enjoy most about hanging out with kids is their sense of wonder, the way they are constantly reminding me to see the world through fresh eyes. Little things, like a small bug or leaf, or the magic of a Christmas tree, become much more profound and nuanced when you’re watching […]

It’s not very often that you hear of a trilogy of picture books; I frequently see popular series for early readers or for older kids, but picture books seldom seem to get the opportunity to tell a story longer than thirty-two pages. Thankfully, Aaron Becker’s beautiful wordless Journey trilogy has busted that trend. I first […]

Of all the books that I read growing up, one of my favorite types to read was what I’ll generally call “animal stories.” James Herriot, Marguerite Henry, Sounder, Julie of the Wolves, Where the Red Fern Grows, Shiloh, My Dog Skip. It wasn’t until I was older that Because of Winn-Dixie was published, but I […]

Graphic novels are one of my (relatively) new favorite discoveries in the world of books. There are so many great ones out there, and so many good new things being created all the time! I love seeing new art forms expand to different types of readers, so I loved discovering Odd Duck by Cecil Castellucci […]

I think it’s really fun when stories encourage kids to be inventive and exercise their problem-solving skills. (See: all the parts in the Series of Unfortunate Events when Violet Baudelaire tied back her hair into a ponytail and got to work inventing something.) In the spirit of that creativity, today I want to recommend the […]

She had to learn how to twirl a baton and she had to learn fast, because if she learned how to twirl a baton, then she stood a good chance of becoming Little Miss Central Florida Tire. And if she became Little Miss Central Florida Tire, her father would see her picture in the paper […]

I like to keep an eye on some “Caldecott award watch” websites, and when I saw one mention a book called Ideas Are All Around, by Philip C. Stead, it caught my attention as one that the Story Warren crowd might be interested in. This whimsical picture book is a simple story; the narrator goes […]

“Imaginary friends are like books. We’re created, we’re enjoyed, we’re dog-eared and creased, and then we’re tucked away until we’re needed again.” from Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate Here’s something that I love: finding similar characters in very dissimilar books, and mentally comparing them. I’ve been thinking about this recently in regard to a very specific […]